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Belgian Politics: A harbinger for the Future of the EU
How the political crisis in Wallonia and Flanders may foretell the fate of the Union
There was a certain ironic harmony to Belgium taking over presidency of the EU on July 1st this year. Тhe country struggles and straddles on the dividing line between Europe’s Germanic and Latin cultures leading a Union. Throw into the mix, that Belgium’s capital Brussels is the defacto capital of the EU and realise the almost perfect storm is about to begin.
For years an industrious Flanders has bemoaned having to maintain the upkeep of a seemingly feckless Wallonia. Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse seethes over the multi billion lump sum it has had to dole out to keep countries like Greece and Spain from going under and taking the Euro with it. The European Institutions such as the Commission and the Parliament fail to provide leadership, thus leaving decisions in the hands of national governments interested in local elections.
While Belgium remains a strong Catholic country, the Flemish people of the North are conservative and free market orientated, with more than a passing resemblance to the people Max Weber described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. In contrast, Wallonia looks to the heavily socialised France and Latin countries of the South for cultural and political references. This divide is also reflected in voting patterns. The dominant Wallonia Socialist Party (PS) calls for strong central government and increased public spending while frequently mired in nepotism, corruption scandals and accusations of lax tax enforcement. Flanders, which maintains Wallonia’s bloated social welfare system by the annual transfer of billions, votes for liberal economic and centre right parties.
A decades-old voting system, drawn down on provincial and language divisions deprives the Flemish from removing what they regard to be an unscrupulous and diseased set up. Likewise, the people of Wallonia can only watch in horror as Flemish separatists, who forget that just some years ago it was Wallonia’s now decimated steel and coal communities that maintained Belgium’s wealth, romp home in the polls.
This type of voting conundrum is also reflected within the EU. Angela Merkel may suffer in the next German elections for her approval of the 750 billion euro loan to Greece, yet she has no say in the formation of the next Greek government or how competently they will enforce new financial regulations. There is a distinct lack of pan-European democracy. While technically this democracy exists in the chambers of the European Parliament, in reality it is national governments that decide corporate tax, annual budgets, retirement ages and social welfare rights. Belgium, a federation made up of three parts - Wallonia, Flanders and bilingual Brussels - faces a very similar reality, with each side squabbling over resources with little control over how it is spent.
The by-product of this dysfunction both in Belgium and the EU is a failure to make lasting economic and political progress. Germany is beginning to tire of mere chequebook diplomacy, the largest contributor to the EU budget. Yet, it is countries such as France, with inherently differently cultural ethics, that sound the largest voice. Charges of Euro scepticism resurfaced when Germany debated the merits of the 750 billion loan. It is also true that Germany has benefited far beyond any other European country from European membership and dissolution of either the Union or the Euro would undoubtedly have catastrophic effects for the country. However, Germans feel they have a right to demand that national governments do not jeopardise the union pandering to unions and public sector contracts.
Returning to Belgium, the Flanders separatist party which took 27 seats in the last election running on the idea of a slow dissolution of Belgium might find that for all their differences there is little hunger for an actual independent Flanders. The election result was in fact just a sign, a momentary flash of anger, warning the Walloons that they too need to tidy up their house.
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